Two men say they were hit by a truck while attending a residential school march in Mission, BC, and they want to see the driver found and charged.
Troy Ingaraldi and Ashton Edwards said they were taking part in a march on Saturday that searched the grounds of the former St. Mary’s residential school for unmarked graves when they alleged that a driver behind the group turned belligerent. .
Ingaraldi said he was helping direct traffic behind the display when he learned of the driver, a man in his 60s in a pickup truck.
Ingaraldi said, “I was letting the traffic slow behind me while we slowed down and one driver got impatient.”
Ingaraldi alleged that the truck pulled over the crowd and slashed its tires before attempting to shoulder the group. Ingraldi said he tried to stop the truck because there were children and elderly people around, and the man began to shout abusive words and tell the group that they should not be on the street, becoming more agitated.
“He’s like, ‘I’ll get you off the road or anyone off this road,’ and he moves on in his truck. That’s when he ends up hitting me with the driver’s side in front of his vehicle, Ingaraldi said.
“It pulled me down a bit and then pushed me to the side of the truck.”
Ingraldi was taken to hospital after the incident and said she suffered soft tissue damage, a cleft lip and minor bruises.
Edwards, who was helping run the march as part of the Crazy Indians Brotherhood, said he heard on a hand-held radio that Ingaraldi had been killed and then saw the truck.
“I could see him behind me, weaving in and out aggressively,” Edwards said.
A man jumped up in front of him when the truck headed toward Edwards and a group of others, leaning over the hood, Edwards said. Edwards tried to pull the man off the hood and was then killed, too, turning him around, he said. The truck then ran away, he said.
Edwards, who said he was hurt and in pain, also went to the hospital but later decided to make a doctor’s appointment instead.
He said he was shaken at the thought of how more people could have been hurt more seriously if things had been a little different.
“It was an aggressive and dangerous driver and I really hope he gets charged,” Edwards said.
The charges have not been proved in court.
The RCMP said in a news release that the truck contacted a total of four people and described the injuries as minor.
No one is in custody and officials are gathering as much evidence as possible to determine appropriate charges to make a recommendation, the release said.
It describes the man at the wheel as “an impatient driver” who tried to go around a group in oncoming traffic, then pointed the vehicle at the group while the cars drove by.
There is no indication that the incident was targeted, or that the driver’s actions had anything to do with the people marching in particular or their cause, it says.
“Trying to save a few minutes of time by risking the lives of others is unacceptable,” says Const. Harrison Mohr said in the release.
Neither Edwards nor Ingaraldi said they believed the incident was also targeted.
“I believe it was just an angry driver,” Ingaraldi said.
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